Cavalock and The Shopping Bane

I believe it's only a matter of time before we get Zaku Zaku Croquant Chou here in Singapore. Or maybe they already do? I dunno, it's hard to keep up with what's new in town these days. Hah! So anyway we stumbled upon this outlet at Shinjuku station, Lumine Basement One. Needless to say, there was a queue which meant its gotta be good. Well, they aren't exactly new and have been in Shinjuku for at least a couple years.

Each is a crisp chou croquant almost 30cm long that's sprinkled with almonds and filled with rich creamy custard. Super tasty snack that I'll gladly queue again the next time I'm in the neighbourhood.

Whenever I spend just a day shopping or even just window shopping in Japan, I'm instantly reminded of how delightful the experience is compared to how infuriating it is back home here in Singapore. And I don't even speak Japanese. I know I did a bit of a similar rant here.

For starters, I'm almost immediately turned off by how ridiculously jacked up prices are over here especially when you do your homework, and are aware of the manufacturer's suggested retail price. Then there's the excellent quality of Japanese-made items and how they cheap they are in Japan, plus there's a whole wide variety of them including limited editions and other hard-to-find stuff.

Sometimes when I read about how some of our malls are now empty, there's a little voice inside of me that says, "serves them right" for overcharging us all the time. Even the malls in Tijuana Johor Bahru, just across the causeway, are cheaper.